After breaking his collarbone in Japan, Dani Pedrosa went through tremendous effort to return to MotoGP racing as soon as possible, and underwent surgery that installed a metal plate into his shoulder, allowing the Spaniard to swing a leg over his Honda RC212V at Phillip Island. While the daunting task of riding only two weeks after surgery proved too much for Pedrosa, the top Honda rider still took part in the Valencian and Portuguese GP’s, despite suffering from pain, a loss of strength, and numbness in his left arm.

Worried that the condition could be due to nerve damage, Pedrosa was faced with a potentially career-ending situation as he flew back to Spain last week to undergo tests. Fortunately for the Spanish rider, his condition appears to stem from inflammation around the nerves and in his collarbone, which are causing his symptoms. Doctors have advised Pedrosa to rest for four weeks, while he undergoes inflammation treatment, and then start his rehabilitation in December.

“Due to the trauma caused by the crash in Japan where Dani broke his left collarbone and needed surgery to fix the bone with a titanium plate, the nerve located over the collarbone, between the neck and the shoulder, received a severe contusion and the heavy inflammation of this area causes fatigue and lack of strength all through the arm,” said Doctor Xavier Mir of the Dexeus Univertity Institute Hospital in Barcelona. “He will need a period of four weeks of complete rest with physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory treatment.”

“I’ve been suffering a lot since Japan and I knew something was wrong with my arm because after the surgery I didn’t get better,” explained Pedrosa. “This lack of strength was very strange and annoying! I was worried because after Estoril we checked the collarbone again and it looked like there was nothing wrong with the plate, but we had no more time between races to check more deeply the reasons for my lack of strength.

“I have had other injuries and surgery in the past and I know that you need some time to recover and get fit again, but this time it was taking too long. Now everything is clear and it’s good to know that the collarbone is OK and I don’t need any more surgery that would take a long time to heal.”

“I hope that within these four weeks the inflammation passes gradually and that I will be able to start rehabilitation and training in the middle of December. We had a good test in Valencia after the final race and I want to start the winter tests in February in Malaysia in a good shape in order to be ready for next year’s championship.”